UPDATE, APRIL 2018: Shortly after this story was originally published in December 2016, a spate of new Chinese restaurants opened, some of which immediately proved worthy of inclusion on a list of the 20 best Chinese restaurants in Orange County. One restaurant on that original list suddenly closed while two or three of the others spiraled into a disturbing pattern of health department violations so horrendous that I could no longer in good conscience recommend them. It was time for a revised ranking. So here it is (for now):

“Chopstick or fork?” she asks from across the room.

I’ve barely stepped through the front door of Peking Restaurant in Westminster, and one of the owners, Lili Shen, is shouting at me from the opposite corner. She’s unloading an armful of food onto a lazy Susan at a large table, her eyes fixed on me the whole time, wanting to make sure I know she sees me. All the guests turn to see who has entered. I feel like I’m being sized up.

“Over there,” she says, pointing to a table near the kitchen. She grabs some chopsticks and napkins and follows us. She brings forks, too, just in case.

Peking Restaurant looks like it’s been around forever. The Westminster shopping center in which it’s located has certainly seen better days. The sign out front is brightly illuminated, proudly announcing “Chinese food” beneath a script of characters. The blinds are drawn half-shut, as if I’ve entered into a secret club.

Before I’ve had time to read past the first page of the menu, Shen approaches with her notepad and pencil: “You want country-style chicken? You want beef roll?”

“It’s good. You’ll like it,” she says, writing it down on her pad. “What else, fried dumpling?”

“Yes, that sounds good,” I say, pointing to an item on the menu described as “pan-fried meat dumplings.”

“No, not that one,” she says. “We don’t make that anymore. I’ll give you a different one.”

Our whirlwind exchange lasts a few seconds before Shen darts down the hallway and sticks her head into a small kitchen window and banters with the chef. Their voices reverberate through the restaurant while a wok clangs rapidly against the stove. Something sizzles. More clanging. I suddenly smell garlic. I smell soy sauce caramelizing, getting darker and richer. My stomach growls.

Meizhou Dongpo's sweet and sour crispy fish is served at the Irvine Sichuan restaurant. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Royal hot pot bubbles at Meizhou Dongpo, a new upscale Sichuan restaurant in Irvine. Its reach is vast with more than 120 locations in China, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. This is is Orange County's first location at Culver Plaza location. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Sound

The gallery will resume inseconds

Diners lunch under lanterns and sit against silk-embroidered pillows at Irvine's Meizhou Dongpo. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Chinese food in Orange County comes in many guises, from the Beijing-inspired cooking at Peking in Westminster to the tongue-numbing, chili- and peppercorn-laced dishes of Sichuan Impression in Tustin or Meizhou Dongpo in Irvine. And there’s a purveyor of American-style kung pao chicken and sweet-and-sour pork in just about every neighborhood — some of them very, very good.

We could argue about the authenticity of much of the latter, but that’s beside the point. Orange-peel chicken is to Chinese food in America what spaghetti and meatballs is to Italian. You won’t find much of either in the homelands, but that doesn’t make it any less delicious when prepared with heart and soul.

While Irvine is the epicenter of O.C.’s diverse Chinese food universe, there are good options all around.

1. Meizhou Dongpo

Sichuan has become the dominant theme in the local Chinese food scene, and there is no better trafficker of mouth-numbing peppercorn and throat-searing chilies than Meizhou Dongpo, which also turned out to be one of the nicest new restaurants to open in Irvine in years. Nearly every dish on the menu is illustrated, so find something that looks pretty and just point to that. If you like playing with radioactive materials, order the royal hot pot —a boiling cauldron of shrimp, beef, mushrooms, quail eggs, lotus root and Spam. Otherwise, the dandan noodles are the best example of Sichuan street-style noodles you’ll find in O.C. 15363 Culver Drive, Irvine, 949-433-5686

2. Din Tai Fung

It’s crazy to think that several years after this dumpling house opened at South Coast Plaza the wait for a table can still stretch beyond two hours, particularly on weekends. People just can’t get enough of DTF’s Shanghai-style soup dumplings called xiao long bao. The shumai dumplings are outstanding, too. And the potstickers are unlike any you’ve ever had before. Meanwhile, the chicken noodle soup will cure absolutely anything. South Coast Plaza, 3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa, 714-549-3388, dintaifungusa.com

3. Peking Restaurant

Expect the service to be bossy but sweet. The Beijing-inspired food comes out fast and hot. Chef Jerry Chen makes the best beef-and-scallion pancake in O.C.. Also worth ordering: panfried dumplings, stir-fried eggplant with basil and the green beans with minced pork. And if you like honey walnut shrimp, theirs is the best. 8566 Westminster Blvd., Westminster, 714-893-3020

4. J Zhou Oriental Cuisine

Yelpers hate this place because it’s not cheap. Forget Yelp. Yes, the decor is so splashy it almost makes you dizzy, but take a Dramamine if you have to because this is easily the best dim sum in O.C. The beef cheung fun (steamed rice paper roll) is superb. At nighttime they roll out the family-style feasts (just one of several different menus) that includes whole Peking duck, whole soy-sauce chickens, whole pigs and more. And if you like congee, you top it with lobster. The District, 2601 Park Ave., Tustin, 714-258-8833, jzhouorientalcuisine.net

Many restaurants serve a version of wok-fried lobster inspired by the typhoon-shelter cuisine of Hong Kong’s disappearing Yau Ma Tei boat people, but nobody does it better than this place. Take some friends. Order the 7-pound platter of Newport Special lobster. Get some spicy clams and yang chow fried rice to go with it. Note: There are two different Newport Seafood restaurants, with different owners. This is the one you want. 10541 Bolsa Ave., Garden Grove, 714-554-3996, tancangrestaurant.com

6. Haidilao Hot Pot

Pick a broth, pick a meat, pick some vegetables. You’re making Chinese soup, but you’re also eating a sort of fondue. It’s hard to go wrong here. The meat choices range from prime Wagyu beef belly to congealed pork blood. You might also want to order some kung fu noodles, which will make sense once you see the noodle maker in action. 2710 Alton Parkway, Irvine, 949-566-1766, haidilao.us (Additional locations in Brea and Arcadia)

7. New Moon Restaurant

New Moon is a “contemporary” restaurant in the same vein as P. F. Chang’s, with a menu of Chinese-American greatest hits anchored by the likes of orange beef, walnut shrimp and lo mein. It’s a small California chain that’s been around for decades but only arrived in O.C. last year. This is one of several restaurants that claims to have invented the Chinese chicken salad. Spice alert: If you like it hot, order the dragon beef — and a huge glass of water, you’re going to need it. 7620 Beach Blvd., Buena Park, 714-562-9920, newmoonrestaurants.com

8. Sichuan Impression

Start with the cumin toothpick lamb. Then move on to the “finger-licking spicy crab,” which comes with plastic gloves. The tea-smoked pork ribs are fantastic, too, buried beneath a flurry of fried garlic and dried red chilies. You can enjoy a variety of fresh greens cooked however you see fit. 13816 Red Hill Ave., Tustin, 714-505-9070

9. China Moon

No one else comes close to China Moon when it comes to genuine, heartfelt hospitality, which is what really sets this place apart. Classic Taiwanese American cuisine – kung pao chicken, sticky barbecue pork ribs, salt-and-pepper calamari – is prepared by an earnest young chef who often comes out of the kitchen to check on you himself. 30001 Town Center Drive, Laguna Niguel, 949-249-6868, chinamoonrestaurant.com

Sichuan-style water spinach at Chong Qing in Irvine. (Photo by Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Register/SCNG)

10. Chong Qing Mei Wei Szechuan

Once upon a time, Chong Qing was the only serious Sichuan restaurant in O.C. It might be time for the kitchen here to do a little soul searching if they wish to climb back to the top of their genre. That said, you surely won’t be disappointed with the cumin lamb, the beef with green and red chillies or the dry chicken hot pot. Order extra water and prepare to sweat. Don’t be surprised if/when you encounter a language barrier here. 5406 Walnut Ave., Irvine, 949-651-8886.

11. Ta Chen

The sign in the window advertises Szechuan and Mandarin cuisine, but the kitchen is mostly notable for the latter. The lime-green walls scream late 1980s, and chopsticks are offered only on request. The house specialty “dry braised beef” is highly addictive, a mix of sweet and savory with a thin, almost-brittle texture unlike anything you’ll find elsewhere. The mu shu pork rolls as big as footballs. And the crispy egg rolls are as grease-free as they come. 6082 Chapman Ave., Garden Grove, 714-892-6994, tachenrestaurant.com

Sam Woo is divided into three restaurants within one: the fancy seafood and dim sum dining hall, a more casual Express cafe (cash only), and a takeout-only version of Express. The menu in the fancy dining room touts more than 300 items, not counting beverages. Some cooks specialize in only a few dishes, so when that cook isn’t working those dishes aren’t available. The guy who makes the delicious slippery rice sheets wrapped around barbecue pork, for example, goes home around 1 p.m., so you have to get there before that if you want those. All of the barbecue is great here, especially the crispy pork belly, which is usually sold out by 6 p.m. Also excellent: the pork wonton soup, barbecue pork bao (best in O.C.), congee (ask for sliced chicken instead of the regular chicken), Peking duck, and stir-fried lamb chops. 15333 Culver Drive, Irvine, 949-262-0688, samwooirvine.com

13. A&J Restaurant

Look around the cramped dining room. Most customers are slurping beef noodle soup, which comes various ways here. One is extra-spicy while another is made with a bright, clear broth. Both are great. They do a Taiwanese version of dandan noodles with minced pork that is is superb, but you shouldn’t expect the dish to travel well, as it needs to be eaten immediately. And if you like classic pork chop rice, this is the place. Cash only. 14805 Jeffrey Road, Irvine, 949-786-3585, aj-restaurant.com

The namesake xiao long bao at Super Juicy Dumplings in Brea. (Photo by Brad A. Johnson, Orange County Register/SCNG)

14. Super Juicy Dumplings

The lights are always too bright inside, but this xiao long bao specialist is always packed. The skins on their juicy pork dumplings are thicker than Din Tai Fung’s, but they are also bigger and available sweetened or unsweetened. Also good: cumin beef stir-fry and the beef vermicelli soup. 2445 E. Imperial Highway, Brea, 714-928-7666

15. The Little Kitchen

The service here is excellent, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find better kung pao or orange-peel chicken anywhere. This is classic American-style Chinese just as you might remember from childhood in the Midwest. The kitchen stays open until midnight. 24831 Del Prado, Dana Point, 949-276-7799, thelittlekitchenasiancafe.com

16. New Shanghai Pine Gardens

New owners took over this long-running diner a couple years ago and freshened it up, adding “New” to the name. The food is still classic American-style Mandarin and Sichuan. The orange-peel beef is the best of its genre. The honey walnut shrimp are sweetly addictive, even if they don’t quite conjure images of China. 300 Marine Ave., Newport Beach, 949-673-3802, shanghaipinegarden.com

17. Capital Seafood

Watch your elbows. This is the place for classic, slap-dash dim sum selected from fast-moving trolleys pushed around the dining room by overbearing waitresses at lunchtime. Blink, and you’ll miss your favorite bao. The Hong Kong style lobster is good, but it’s no Tan Cang Newport Seafood (see above). Skip the Peking duck, but do not underestimate the orange chicken. The Diamond Jamboree branch is by far the best of this local chain. 2700 Alton Parkway, Irvine, 949-252-8188, capital-seafood.com (Additional locations at Irvine Spectrum and in Brea)

Operating since 1978, this old-school Chinese cafe in a vintage A-frame got a beautiful Googie-inspired revamp a couple of years ago. Meanwhile, the Mongolian beef is still straight out of the 1970s – and it is fantastic. So, too, the Yen Ching beef, made with the house “special sauce.” And if you must eat sweet-and-sour shrimp, do it here. 574 S. Glassell St., Orange, 714-997-3300, yenchingoc.com

19. NuVu Asian Taste

They don’t set the table with chopsticks. And I’ve never seen a single Chinese (or even vaguely Asian) waiter here. However, I peeked into the kitchen and everything looks legit. The very handsomely designed NuVu bills itself as Asian fusion and serves a menu modeled after New Moon or P.F. Chang’s. The black pepper beef and crispy orange beef are both excellent, as are the classic pork bao. If all this sounds too Americanized, ask about the chef’s secret menu. 18330 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach, 657-329-4167, nuvufood.com

Something about this place reminds me of the movie “Big Trouble in Little China.” It’s such a surreal throwback, not just the dining room and menu but the customers, too. I love the crispy, greasy egg rolls served with bright-red, sickly sweet dipping sauce. And the Mongolian beef, the egg-drop and corn soup, the beef chow fun and the chew barbecue spareribs. 16545 Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley, 714-839-4481

James Beard Award-winning restaurant critic Brad A. Johnson has been writing about food for more than 20 years. A prolific traveler who has dined around the world, he joined the Orange County Register in 2012 to help readers find the best steaks, the strongest margaritas, the freshest sushi, the hottest Thai curries and more. Brad dines incognito and pulls no punches. Although he has yet to find a local restaurant to merit a perfect four-star rating, he remains ever hopeful as the quest continues.

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.